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psili sausage

Growing Salvia D Cuttings in Coir/Coco Fibre

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Greetings everybody,

This is my first post in a long time. Just thought I'd inform everyone of Swim's mixed success rooting salvia cuttings in coir/coco fibre. To be specific, it's "Brunnings seed raising coir," I don't think there's much difference between the types besides the added nutrients etc. I've done a bit of research and found lots of praise in regards to coir for seed raising and soil conditioning, except that some sources contain far too much sodium.

Back to the point: Swim planted 2 cuttings on the 1st of May. The pots he put them in are approx 10cm diameter, 8cm deep. The cuttings were cut just below a node and each contained 2 nodes above this (2 segments long).

When Swim returned after the weekend he found they had wilted, which is to be expected really, so he put plastic bottles over them to trap the humidity. They perked up within hours, and after a week were happy without the plastic bottles and were showing signs of root formation just above coir level.

It's now been 5 weeks and the plants haven't done much in the way of foliage production. In fact, the leaves have started turning purple - I think it's sunburn or may be from the cold nights (although it's hardly dropped below 10°C). On the plus side, the leaves aren't shrivelling up like the main plant did when it got sunburned. Anyway, Swim went to move the plants today and found they'd become rootbound and attached the pots to the gound underneath!

Has anyone else tried using coir? Is the discolouration of the leaves possibly due to the coir itself? Swim's only alternative at the moment is clay. He's conditioned it and added lots of organic material, but it's still clay and some plants just hate it. Hopefully after a couple of seasons Swim'll have lovely soil in his garden :)

Any advice/opinion is welcome.

Edited by psili sausage
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I'm guessing you really mean salvia splendens

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.

Edited by psili sausage
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What makes you guess that?

It's definitely diviner's sage. Swim smokes the dried leaf occasionally with good results...

 

I think Gilligan may be trying to tell you that you have self incriminated yourself by admitting you are growing an illegal plant.. there are posting rules about this...

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Silly me trying to take credit for Swim's actions again!

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Hehehe Classic,

I find salvia splendens roots well if you place it in a Humidity Chamber (fishtank).

Edited by vual

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Salvia hate wet feet during the colder months, they also dislike frost... if

the leaves are yellow, too much water... if going purple, too much frost, keep

under cover during the night...

However, during the summer soak the hell out of it...

whisperz,...

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Sometimes when a plant becomes stressed the leaves turn purple. The chlorophyll is used up and the leaves display other pigments which are not normally visible.

Purple pigments are known as anthrocynanins and serve a protective function to the plant.

In coir the plants can use up all the nitrogen quickly and not be able to produce enough chlorophyll allowing the purple to come through.

This can also happen naturally on older leaves as the plant transports nutrients to actively growing parts of the plant.

Give it a weak feed if you haven't already and it will probably be OK

That is if there is nothing else obviously wrong with the plants.

Coir by itself is excellent for striking roots but not really a complete growing mix, maybe look into re-potting.

Edited by Magicdirt

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Thanks whisperz and magic dirt.

Seems the seed raising coir is just that - good for germination and rooting cuttings but nothing long term. I do love it's drainage and water retaining properties though.

Swim did a bunch of repotting today, including some of his plants that were not enjoying the clay such as the mint, and some that were in pots of coir such as parsley and the salvia. He put them in a mix of "sandy" soil, organic material and a bit of coir to hold some water. This mix should be much richer than the coir, and much more friable than the clay with better drainage... We'll see how the plants go.

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Okay guys, enough is enough. I know I fucked up with the first posts here, but I now have one of the worst reputations in the forum, second only to Arieon.

At least it's still classed as neutral, so please, I've learned my lesson.

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Okay guys, enough is enough. I know I fucked up with the first posts here, but I now have one of the worst reputations in the forum, second only to Arieon.

At least it's still classed as neutral, so please, I've learned my lesson.

 

No wucken furries

I'm not sure if swim gives any insulation either, I have read on other forums that saying a friend or a friend of a friend is safer. A good one I've seen here is "my gnome" If your gnome was ever arrested there's a good chance he'd keep his mouth shut.

But with Australias laws who knows? better safe than sorry.

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Okay guys, enough is enough. I know I fucked up with the first posts here, but I now have one of the worst reputations in the forum, second only to Arieon.

At least it's still classed as neutral, so please, I've learned my lesson.

 

You can always edit your posts, to keep the original meaning but to remove to self-incrimination. Your first and second post are still up there for all to see, probably why they keep attracting the negative ratings. SWIM and FOAF and Gnome are all pretty transparent terms, and I'm sure any authority figures reading the forums would see right through them, but at least they bring a little discretion into the conversation.

No need to be so obvious. :innocent_n:

Edited by Rabaelthazar

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36ab04fd53fdecfa.jpg
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:innocent_n::wink:

 

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I too have heavy clay and have to add lots of organic matter as your friend wisely did. I also add lots of sand but you have to be careful of sodium levels

depending on where you source the sand. Also fine gravel, 10mm or 25mm is common, but mix it well and check Ph beforehand as this type of gravel is

often limestone. I have also built huge mounds of all of the above to obtain good drainage, in essence not using the clay at all until whatever you

are growing is quite mature and then hopefully the soil has mixed somewhat. Hope this helps.

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from experience, that i have seen, putting sal in sandy soil is the best, people may disagree but its the easiest way to prevent root rot and I have seen plants 6ft tall in almost full sand with plenty of nutes, they have to be staked up after a short time because theyre very weak. Ive never grown though, only seen other peoples

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